Become a More Effective Office Manager

Don't Neglect Your Writing Skills
Just because e-mails in general suffer from poor grammar and punctuation doesn't mean that your written communication should be anything

less than professional. But knowing what to write and how to do it is just part of your mission; you also need to know about your reading audience. Do people tend to read your entire e-mail or will they stop reading after the first two lines? For the latter, you'll want to incorporate the most important information up front. Also, always remember that once you put anything in writing, it's there for the world to see. Be particularly sensitive in your e-mails and memos when informing staff about new equipment, a change of policy, or any report. You never want to patronize or insult anyone.

And don't ever underestimate the power of misinterpretation. Consider the confusion — and bad feelings — that could arise if you were to write "I resent that" meaning you sent a report again versus you were offended by something that might have been said earlier. Clearly, you want to know where to insert hyphens (re-sent) and when you should simply pick up the phone or stop by someone's desk for a face-to-face conversation. We cover this topic more in-depth in the article Communicating Effectively via E-Mail.